


At Issue

by Keenir



Category: Norse Mythology, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, Gen, Mythology got it a little wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-22
Updated: 2013-06-22
Packaged: 2017-12-15 18:38:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/852758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What are your intentions toward my father?" Hel asks Jane.  "Beside the obvious."</p>
            </blockquote>





	At Issue

The sound didn't wake Jane up, because she was already awake, hard at work. So, inquisitive, she went to see what it was, phone in one hand, flashlight helmet on her head, and a foghorn in her other hand.

Walking into her living room, Jane noticed how everything in the center of the room had been squashed flatter than flat, nearly paper thin.

"Was that valuable?" was the question.

Jane didn't jump or startle. She'd gained too much experience dealing with godlike aliens who clearly enjoyed far too much showing up out of nowhere, _and certain other coffee-guzzling friends who shall remain nameless at this hour of the night._ Jane turned, and could see almost in profile the classically-chiseled face that Jane had a feeling was either another Asgardian, or a Miss Universe contestant. She asked her guest as much.

"Treaty forbids competitions between the worlds, save for combat," the visitor answered. Then she turned her head, and Jane could see the rest of her - and tried not to stare at the near-skeletal appearance. _Little to no muscles on that side. Or they've all given up the ghost, like on some stroke victims._

She waited patiently, as though that was a normal reaction. "I _am_ of Asgard. You know of me?" curious.

Jane nodded. "Hel?"

"I am," Hel said.

"Why...? Why are you here?" Jane asked.

"The answer is obvious."

Jane frowned and shook her head. "Not from what I've heard about you." _Am I dead? Did I keel over in mid-experiment and not notice? Wait, wouldn't a v-_ "If I'm dead, shouldn't there be a valrykie here to pick me up?"

"Have you died in childbirth?" Hel asked, and Jane could detect the sound of unhappiness, that or wariness.

"No."

"On the battlefield?" Hel asked with less of that wariness or unhappiness.

"No," Jane said, and one of the library's books on the Norse gods came to mind. "That's why you're here, then?" According to the mythology books, Hel ruled a land full of people whose deaths were neither in battle nor in labor.

"I came only because my father loves you," Hel said.

"I'm sorry, what?" Jane asked.

"You know this and have been seen to reciprocate it."

Before Jane could manage to ask 'who says they saw - nobody saw it, because there's nothing to see'... Hel asked Jane, "What are your intentions toward my father?" which Hel then followed that up with a, "Beside the obvious."

Jane blinked, wrapping her mind around that question and its implications, many as there were. "I don't any intentions toward Loki, one way or another."

"Loki is not my father," Hel said.

"You're...not?" Jane asked.

"As my father seems to have omitted mention of me from his talking to you, I will introduce myself more fully," she said. "I am Hel Thorsdottir, heir to Thor Odinson, himself heir to the Highest and King and Lord of Asgard, which is chief of the Nine Worlds. Now, what are your intentions towards my father?"

Jane had a feeling that 'Thor has a daughter?' would not earn her any points, even if it was echoing through her brain. "I love him."

_Evidently, Hel doesn't think that's worth dignifying with an answer,_ Jane mused.

Jane's cellphone rang. "I should get that," Jane said. She'd seen how fast Loki and Sif could move, how quick Thor and his hammer could fly.

Hel just looked at her.

"Hello?" Jane asked whomever was calling her.

_"Is everything all right, Jane? Sensors say your house just lost power."_

Jane knew that voice: Maria Hill. SHIELD. "I'm fine. Just having some family over. There was a little accident with the power."

_"I'll have someone come by in the morning, then?"_

"That sounds great," Jane said, and said her goodnight, hanging up.

"Deception?" Hel asked her.

"Not if you're Thor's daughter."

"I am Thorsdottir. And so will your children."

_Ah, now we get to the meat of the matter,_ Jane thought, and felt guilty about thinking that analogy where Hel was concerned. "Hel, he's still your father, and that won't change, no matter what. Besides, I don't know if I can have children with Thor."

"Humans are rediculously fecund," Hel said, an observation, not the sniping anyone else might have used it as.

"Doesn't matter," Jane said.

"Your words are tempting."

"I'm being honest." _And every liar says that,_ Jane thought a moment after saying that. And felt that this was a bad time to ask who Hel's mother was.

"I will consider and weigh your words," Hel said, "and I will send you Fenris if I find in your favor."

"Fenris...the wolf?" Jane asked.

"I have had that wolf since I was a little girl. Farewell," Hel said and crossed the flattened center of the room - and was gone.

_Suuure, nothing at all intimidating there,_ Jane thought as she went to get a drink, then went to bed, staring at her ceiling.

*********

Sometime around midmorning, Jane opened her eyes, and found herself looking face-to-face with a very large wolf. She didn't scream - she just rolled out of bed very very fast, hitting the floor with something of a thump.

When she heard nothing else, Jane looked up on the bed, and saw the wolf hadn't moved, that the wolf would never move. "A stuffed animal," she said. _One with a real wolf's fur, and probably skin._


End file.
